Weaponising Foreign Laws: Why the UK Needs a New Law Against Malicious Revenge Actions
Exploring the urgent need for a UK law to prevent malicious actors from exploiting foreign legal systems to harm others, as highlighted by a recent case of unjust imprisonment in Dubai.
Imagine being a young man, excited to explore a new country, only to find yourself imprisoned because someone maliciously weaponised archaic laws against you. This isn’t fiction—it’s the story of a British man jailed in Dubai after a mother reported him for having consensual sex with her daughter, who was just two months shy of her 18th birthday. While the UAE’s laws are undeniably draconian, this case exposes a deeper issue: the abuse of foreign legal systems to settle personal vendettas.
This isn’t just about one mother’s cruelty. It’s about the broader implications of allowing such malicious actions to go unchecked, and why the UK needs a new law to hold individuals accountable when they cause harm abroad.
The Problem: Exploiting Foreign Laws
In most Western countries, the age of consent is 16, as it is in the UK. The individuals involved in this case were close in age, and their relationship would have been entirely legal under British law. However, the UAE has no explicit age of consent and instead operates under sharia law, which criminalises any sexual activity outside marriage.
The mother of the girl waited until her daughter had returned to the UK before reporting the relationship to UAE authorities, knowing full well that the man would face severe punishment. This calculated act wasn’t about protecting her daughter but about exacting revenge—a vendetta that led to devastating consequences for the young man and his family.
While it’s true that visitors to foreign countries must abide by local laws, the moral question here is whether this action constitutes a genuine crime. Most reasonable people would agree that consensual sex between two individuals, two months apart in age, is not criminal. Yet the mother’s spiteful use of UAE laws turned a non-issue into a life-altering ordeal.
Why the UK Needs a New Law
The UK’s legal system should not allow malicious actors to exploit foreign laws without consequences. When an individual intentionally causes harm to another citizen by leveraging draconian or unjust laws abroad, their actions should be punishable under UK law.
A law targeting this behaviour would serve several purposes:
Deterrence
It would discourage individuals from taking vindictive actions that exploit foreign legal systems.
Accountability
It would provide a pathway to hold individuals accountable for the harm they cause to others.
Protection
It would signal that the UK stands by its citizens, especially when they’ve been wronged in ways that conflict with fundamental British values of fairness and justice.
Such legislation wouldn’t undermine the sovereignty of other nations or excuse ignorance of local laws. Instead, it would address the specific harm caused when someone deliberately weaponises those laws for personal revenge.
The Moral Argument
This isn’t just a legal issue; it’s a moral one. In this case, both individuals were consenting, and their actions were not criminal under the norms of any reasonable society. The mother’s deliberate and calculated decision to report the young man after ensuring her daughter’s safety shows an appalling lack of humanity. Her actions caused immense suffering—not just for the man imprisoned but also for his family, who now face an uphill battle to bring him home.
Laws exist to protect individuals and ensure justice, not to be weaponised for personal revenge. When someone manipulates the system to inflict harm, they undermine the very principles that justice is built upon. It’s time for the UK to take a stand against such actions and ensure that malicious actors are held to account.
A call for justice
The case of this young man imprisoned in Dubai is a wake-up call. It highlights the need for a new UK law to prevent individuals from weaponising foreign legal systems against others. Such a law would uphold the principles of fairness and justice, protecting citizens from harm caused by malicious actions abroad.
It’s time to make a change. Revenge should never be allowed to ruin lives unchecked, especially when it’s enabled by outdated and oppressive laws. Let’s hold those who exploit these systems accountable and ensure that justice prevails.